Brotherhood
by real roguee
Summary: Stolen Moments. The night was bright, the world was empty...when Sirius left the Noble House of Black.  Everything recognizable belongs to JKR. Oneshot.


_Brotherhood_

_Sirius Black, Stolen Moments_

The street looked, as any other should at three o'clock in the morning. The streetlamps were dim, one had burned out. Still it was relatively easy to see, under the light of the piercing full moon.

Grimmuand Place was dark and dusty under the light of the full moon, full of concealing shadows and century old secrets. The room exuded pureblood ancestry, with its long windows, dark wood furnishings, and plush silver carpet. In the corner of the room stood a handsome young teenager, Sirius Black. The gold watch on his hand and the red shirt on his back distinguished him among the green and silver. His dark hair fell in front of his grey eyes and he leaned nonchalantly against the wall, trying to ignore his mother's shrieks.

"YOU! You are a DISGRACE! Just like your cousin, just like your blood traitor friends! You are the greatest disappointment, Sirius. You could be great; you could join the Dark Lord. If you just had some bloody courage-" At the sound of courage, Sirius's jaw clenched and his head shot up. He knew he shouldn't rise to her taunts, but forbearance had never been the young Black's strength. He began to retaliate.

"Courage! You think groveling up to that KILLER, Voldemort is courage? You think just because our blood is pure that it bloody entitles us? You think I'll grow up to be a damn Death Eater, to be soulless?"

"You! You-"

"I stand for what is right and someday, when you're burning in hell, maybe you'll understand it!" His eyes were almost as black as his mother's when he was angry. In some ways this frightened him, that he could hold such capacity to hate, to destroy.

"You are no son of mine!" she said manically, her eyes aglow with madness. "Leave my house, my bastard son!" She grabbed a wine glass off the table and threw it hard at the wall above Sirius's head. The glass shattered and blood red wine stained the pristine wall. She cursed and pulled out her wand. He flinched, waiting for a curse and wishing he had his wand, which was three flights up, in his room. However, she just scorched his name off the family tree as he ran up towards his room, where his suitcase and broom waited.

He was halfway out of the window, with his trunk and luggage on the roof outside the window when he noticed Regulus, standing in the doorframe. Sirius was surprised when he saw Reggie's face. In the light of the moon, he had lost his haughty look, his arrogant pureblood swagger. He almost looked like the little boy who looked up to Sirius, who followed him around the house, who ran to him when Mummy and Daddy were fighting, who saved every letter Sirius sent him from Hogwarts.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Where?"

"James."

"The brother I could never be." Sirius saw the look of anguish cross his brother's face, though he tried to mask it.

"You can always change."

"It's too late and you know it. You're in Gryffindor and I'm in Slytherin. Now that you've left, I will be expected to join the Dark Lord. I'll have to replace you, make up for you." Regulus's eyes looked haunted, his voice was emotionless, but his hands quivered and Sirius can tell he wished he was a little boy again, and Sirius was there to look after him.

A tear rolled out of Regulus's eye and a sob caught in Sirius's chest. He knew the next time that they'd meet; they'd hate each other, just as expected. Sirius, the rebel traitor and Regulus, his replacement. But now they stood as brothers, men who seemed different, but were very much alike. They stood under the light of the pale moon for one long moment, understanding flowing between them.

"I, I miss it Reg," Sirius started gruffly. "When it was simple, when everything was black and white. You say it's too late now. Maybe it's too late to get those times back, but I hope it's never too late to change the future." He turned to the window, hooked his trunk on his broom and took off into the night. Regulus sat in Sirius's room until the morning, when his legs were stiff and his back ached but all he could think about was his brother's words. _It's never too late to change the future._

Sirius flew through the night, his trunk proving bulky to fly with. Thoughts swirled in his head. Before Regulus asked him, he had no idea where he was going to go. But James, the brother Reg could never be, would take him in, no questions asked. Sirius fantasized a summer of prank plotting and Quidditch with James, not sneaking downstairs for food and hiding in his room when Regulus's idiotic Slytherin friends came over. But he supposed, that in a way, both Regulus and James were his brothers.

Regulus, by blood. When they were little, it had always been Sirius and Regulus versus Mummy. Regulus would be loyal to Sirius, and Sirius would protect him. But it had all changed when Sirius left for Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor. Mummy had pulled a fit when she learned that HER son was the first non-Slytherin in generations and no one had been there to protect Reg from her wrath. She had easily molded him into the perfect pureblood son Sirius could never be. When Sirius had returned home for summer holidays, eager to share his adventures with his brother, he had been greeted by a carbon copy of his pathetic father. Shocked by Reg's betrayal, Sirius had adjusted quickly into his role of the illegitimate son and Regulus had become the perfect replacement for the disappointment of the family.

Now brother-less, Sirius grew closer to James. James was everything Regulus wasn't. He was loud, he was brave, he was loyal. At Hogwarts, James and Sirius shared everything. Sirius was always there when brownnose Evans criticized James. James was always there when Sirius received a Howler from home. Though they weren't brothers by blood, they had always been brothers when it mattered. Sirius had always thought James was the perfect Regulus replacement, but after their moment in his room, Sirius realized James had never replaced Reg, just like Reg could never really replace Sirius. After all, blood is thicker than water, even in times when blood and water slip together like rays of sunlight.

Sirius arrived at James's mansion with the morning light. He climbed in through James's window and chuckled when he saw his friend asleep, drooling. He set his things near the door and climbed unto the cot in the side of the room. The cot had been neatly made and was placed right by the window like Padfoot liked it. It's been waiting for him.


End file.
